Wonder Woman (film) - Plot

Plot

Centuries ago, the Amazons, a proud and fierce race of warrior women, led by Queen Hippolyta (voiced by Virginia Madsen), battled Ares (voiced by Alfred Molina), the God of War, and his army. During the battle, Hippolyta beheaded her son, Thrax (voiced by Jason Miller), whom Ares forcibly conceived with her, and then defeated the God of War himself. Zeus (voiced by David McCallum) prevented her from killing Ares. Instead, Hera (voiced by Marg Helgenberger) bound his powers with magic bracers so that he was deprived of his ability to draw power from the aura of violence and death he could instigate, and only another god could release him. In compensation, the Amazons were granted the island of Themyscira, where they could be eternally youthful and isolated from Man in the course of their duty of holding Ares prisoner for all eternity. Later, Hippolyta was granted a daughter, Princess Diana (voiced by Keri Russell), whom she shaped from the sand of the sea shore and gave life with her own blood.

Over a millennium later, an American fighter pilot, Steve Trevor (voiced by Nathan Fillion), is shot down and crash-lands on the island, where he soon runs afoul of the Amazon population, including the war-like and aggressive Artemis (voiced by Rosario Dawson). Steve and Diana meet and fight, and she defeats him, taking him to the Amazons. Hippolyta decides he should be returned home. Diana volunteers, but is assigned to guard Ares's cell instead since her mother argues that she has not enough experience in dealing with the dangers of the outside world. Diana defies her mother and, her face hidden by a helmet and her guard duty covered by her bookish but kind-hearted Amazon sister Alexa (voiced by Tara Strong), wins the right to take Trevor back to his home.

In the meantime, the Amazon Persephone (voiced by Vicki Lewis), who has fallen in love with Ares, releases him, both killing Alexa in the process. With the additional task of capturing Ares, Diana brings Trevor to New York City, where he volunteers to help. An investigation uncovers a pattern of violence created by Ares presence that will lead to him given time, and the pair go out to a bar while they wait. After some heavy drinking, Trevor makes a pass at Diana. They argue outside, but are attacked first by thugs and then the demigod Deimos (voiced by John DiMaggio). Deimos kills himself to prevent being interrogated, but Diana and Steve find a clue on his body that leads them to a secret Greek temple guarded by the worshipers of Ares.

Once there, Diana attempts to subdue Ares, but he summons harpies that threaten to kill her, prompting Trevor to save her instead of stopping Ares. Meanwhile, Ares performs a sacrifice to open a gate to the Underworld where he persuades his uncle Hades (voiced by Oliver Platt) to remove the bracers (though Hades doesn't tell Ares that the cost of removing the bracers would eventually result in his death in combat). Later, Diana regains consciousness and is furious that Trevor saved her rather than stop Ares. Trevor argues against her abuse with his own criticism of the Amazons' self-imposed isolation and their generalizations about men, and reveals how much he cares about her.

Ares and his army attack Washington, DC. Trevor and Diana arrive to battle Ares and are soon joined by the Amazons. While Ares manages even to summon the Amazons long dead from the Underworld to fight their own sisters, his scheme is stopped by Alexa, a member of the undead host, who reveals to Artemis a chant which nullifies Ares's control over them. The undead then turn on Ares but are destroyed by his powers. Hippolyta faces Persephone in combat and kills her, but in her dying breath, Persephone makes the queen realize that in shutting the Amazons away from the world of men, she has denied them the chance to live their lives as women.

Meanwhile, the President (voiced by Rick Overton) is influenced by Ares's power and orders a nuclear missile against Themyscira, presuming the island-nation is the source of the attack on Washington. This act of supreme aggression increases Ares's power, but Trevor takes the invisible jet and shoots down the missile just before it hits the island. Finally, after a brutal beating at Ares's hands, Diana finally outwits and kills him. Subsequently, Ares is condemned to the underworld to attend Hades as a slave alongside his son.

Later on Themyscira, in memory of Alexa, Artemis takes up the hobby of reading. Hippolyta realizes that Diana misses both the outside world and Trevor, and to make her happy again, she charges her daughter to become a diplomat for the Amazons. Diana accepts and returns to the world of men, where she enjoys the company of Trevor and assumes the secret identity of Diana Prince. Their relationship comes with the understanding of her larger duties, such as when Diana sees Cheetah robbing a museum and she excuses herself to stop the supervillainess as Wonder Woman.